Bangalore’s First Restaurant Week

The Bangalore branch of Olive Bar and Kitchen, Olive Beach is a Mediterranean-style restaurant that serves dishes including roasts and a wide range of cheeses and cold cuts.

After its successful run in Mumbai and Delhi, Restaurant Week is set to make its debut in Bangalore. The initiative will take place from Sept. 19, at the same time as Delhi’s and Mumbai’s Restaurant Week.

The concept in Bangalore is unchanged: fine-dining restaurants will be offering guests a fixed, three-course menu for 1000 rupees ($21) per person, taxes excluded. With wine the price is 2000 rupees. Seven restaurants are adhering to the event, fewer than Restaurant Weeks elsewhere. Organizers say this is to test the waters in Bangalore.

But choosing the restaurants wasn’t an easy task. “We try to balance geographic location, cuisine and a right number of stand-alone versus hotel-based restaurants,” Mangal Dalal, one of the organizers, said, adding that they sampled a long list of potential restaurants before settling for the final seven.

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Overall, however, visitors are likely to get a better deal for Restaurant Week in Mumbai or Delhi than in Bangalore: here restaurants are generally cheaper, average meals in many higher-end restaurants often costing around 1000 rupees anyways. So make your picks carefully, see below for a few tips. Taxes and drinks are not included in the prices mentioned below. Note that most restaurants still have to finalize their set menu.

Caperberry: The words “caperberry” in Hebrew means “provocation of desire” and this is the philosophy that inspired Chef Abhijit Saha to open this joint. This restaurant and tapas bar serves mainly Spanish-influenced continental dishes such as the classic seafood paella, a rice dish, and potato gnocchi with broccoli. Here, a meal for two comes in the 2500-rupee to 3500-rupee range.

The Pink Poppadom, Ista Hotel: The restaurant takes its name after the quintessential Indian starter: the poppadom, a thin, crispy snack usually served with chutney or pickles. The restaurant’s contemporary Indian menu, serves fusion dishes like the Blue Cheese Naan and Lobster Moilee, a coconut-based preparation. An average meal for two, costs between 2,500 to 3000 rupees.

Bene, Sheraton Hotel: In this restaurant, Chef Gustavo Murali prepares Italian delicacies. Their eggplant-based starters and tiramisu are particularly popular. An average meal for two would cost you around 2500 rupees. Special items included in their Restaurant Week menu are the parmigiana, an oven-baked dish with eggplant and mozzarella cheese, tuna carpaccio and poached pears.

Zen, The Leela Palace: This pan-Asian restaurant offers Japanese, Korean, Thai, Singaporean and Balinese dishes. It also houses a Sushi and a noodle bar. A meal for two usually costs around 2500 rupees.

Le Jardin, The Oberoi: This all-day multi-cuisine dining restaurant is housed in Bangalore’s Oberoi hotel, serving dishes like salads, tapas and mezze platters. A meal for two costs between 2000 to 2500 rupees ($53), roughly how much you would spend there during Restaurant Week.

Szechwan Court, The Oberoi: Signature dishes at this award-winning Chinese restaurant include fried lotus stem in sweet chili sauce, silken tofu stir fried with shitake mushrooms in spicy Sichuan sauce, and sweet chili pork ribs. Again, an average meal for two will cost you between 2000 to 2500 rupees.

Olive Beach: This is the Bangalore branch of Olive Bar and Kitchen, a Mediterranean-style restaurant that serves dishes including oven-cooked pizzas, roasts and a wide range of cheeses and cold cuts. Although price-wise coming here during Restaurant Week isn’t much of a deal, you may be intrigued by their set menu, which includes a pear, walnut and Roquefort salad, twice cooked lemon basil chicken, parmesan and ricotta ravioli and coffee bean & Kahlua ice cream with amaretti, a variety of almond cookies.

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